FROM SILENCE TO SOLIDARITY: A CASE STUDY EXPLORING

POLICY LESSONS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THREE PUBLIC ART EFFORTS

ACKNOWLEDGING SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND PROMOTING WOMEN’S

EMPOWERMENT IN POST-CONFLICT KOSOVO

By:

Hope Loudon

Submitted to

Central European University

Department of Public Policy

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in

Public Policy

Supervisor: Cameran Ashraf

Budapest, Hungary

2018

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Author’s Declaration

I, the undersigned Hope Loudon hereby declare that I am the sole author of this

thesis. To the best of my knowledge, this thesis contains no knowledge previously

published by anyone else except where properly acknowledged. This thesis contains no

work which has been used to fulfil the requirements of any other degree program or

institution.

Date: June 15, 2018

Name: ______________________________

Signature: __________________________

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Abstract

Following Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war in which rape was used as a systematic weapon,

survivors faced stigmatization, social rejection, and institutional neglect for more than a

decade. Women were generally denied a voice in state building, and their concerns were swept

under the rug. This research is an exploration of artistic mechanisms to move society from

silence to solidarity, a Kosovo case study about three anomalous public art efforts: 1.) The

sculpture, Heroinat, which represents Kosovo’s first memorial acknowledging women’s war

contributions and victims of rape, 2.) The 2015 temporary art installation and campaign

“Thinking of You,” which offered a participatory public centerpiece to highlight sexual

violence survivors’ plight, and 3.) Kosovo’s annual festival FEMART which involves artists,

activists, and the broader community in diverse activities exploring feminist themes and ideas.

Through in-depth interviews with stakeholders, and participation in the 2018 FEMART

Festival, this research aims to tell the stories of the three efforts with the highest possible

accuracy, to clarify their intentions and processes, and to explore their implications for social

and policy change. This research offers insights and recommendations to improve the impact

of these efforts going forward, and to inform future projects and policies of a similar nature.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to offer my deepest appreciation to my perennially supportive supervisor,

as well as Professor Margaret Jenkins who was accessible from across the globe and always

willing to make suggestions which helped me clarify and improve my ideas.

Thank you to all the interviewees for sharing opinions and experiences with me. For

those of you who worked to realize these public art efforts, these efforts formed significant,

and even defining, parts of your lives, thus I felt especially privileged that you were open with

me about their joys and challenges.

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Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1

Chapter 2: Context ......................................................................................................... 3

2.1 Sexual Violence in Kosovo: Silence, Stigmatization, and Institutional Neglect . 3

2.2 Policy Change ...................................................................................................... 5

Chapter 3: Literature Review and Conceptual Framework: .......................................... 7

Chapter 4: Methodology and Limitations .................................................................... 15

4.1 Methodology ...................................................................................................... 15

4.2 Limitations and Considerations .......................................................................... 17

Chapter 5: Discussion .................................................................................................. 20

5.1 “Heroinat” .......................................................................................................... 20

5.2 “Thinking of You” ............................................................................................. 24

5.3 FEMART ............................................................................................................ 27

5.4 Potential Utility and Policy Impact: ................................................................... 30

5.5 Institutional Support ........................................................................................... 32

5.6 Participation ....................................................................................................... 35

Chapter 6: Recommendations ...................................................................................... 37

Chapter 7: Further Research ........................................................................................ 39

Chapter 8: Conclusion.................................................................................................. 42

Chapter 9: References .................................................................................................. 43

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List of Figures

Figure 1 The sculpture “Heroinat” designed by Artist Illir Blakçori........................... 20

Figure 2 “Thinking of You” Art Installation ............................................................... 24

Figure 3 The mural painted as part of FEMART 2018. ............................................... 27

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List of Abbreviations

CRDP Centre for Documentation and Publication

KIPRD Kosovo Institute for Policy Research and Development

KRCT Kosovo Centre for the Rehabilitation of Torture

OSCE Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

UN United Nations

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Chapter 1: Introduction

During the 1998-1999 conflict in Kosovo, sexual violence was instrumentalized as a

systematic weapon of war.1 After the war, survivors faced revictimization through silence,

stigmatization, and institutional neglect which lasted for more than a decade.

This research is an exploration of artistic mechanisms to move society from silence to

solidarity, a Kosovo case study about three anomalous public art efforts: 1.) The sculpture,

Heroinat, which represents Kosovo’s first memorial acknowledging women’s war

contributions and victims of rape, 2.) The 2015 temporary art installation and campaign

“Thinking of You,” which offered a participatory public centrepiece to highlight sexual

violence survivors’ plight, and 3.) Kosovo’s annual festival FEMART which involves artists,

activists, and the broader community in diverse activities exploring feminist themes and ideas.

I start by situating the three selected public art efforts in the historical context of silence

and stigmatization as well as institutional neglect. I then review literature in order to explain

the relevance of this case study, and the potential links between these three public art efforts

and issues of social and policy change.

The analysis and discussion section present the findings in two parts: 1.) General

profiles telling the story of each effort, clarifying its intentions and process of emergence as

well as discussing some interviewee perspectives about it. 2.) Discussion around the themes of

Potential Policy Impact, Institutional Support, and Process. I follow this with

recommendations, suggestions for further research, and some of my conclusions.

It asks the following guiding research questions: 1.) What is the story behind each of

these public art efforts in Kosovo? 2.) What potential impacts and utility might these public art

1 Vulaj, E. (2015). Sexual Violence during the Kosovo War: How Acknowledging Rape as a Jus Cogens

Violation and Other Steps Can Bring Justice to All Victims. Gonzaga Journal of International Law, 1-21.

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efforts have in terms of influencing social and policy change for women’s empowerment and/or

rights and recognition for sexual violence survivors?

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Chapter 2: Context

“For ex-prisoners, probably it wasn’t so difficult to come to look for services because

they had, you know, this pride. ‘I did this for my land…and they took me hostage…they tortured

me.’ But it was completely different for example, [for] survivors of sexual violence. No way.

No way to talk about it.” -Interview with Sebahate Pacolli-Krasniqi

2.1 Sexual Violence in Kosovo: Silence, Stigmatization, and Institutional Neglect

As one survivor’s son asked upon hearing about his mother’s rape: “Why didn’t you

ask them to kill you instead?”2 Some women did ask, and others killed themselves as is the plot

of Isa Qosja’s artistic film Three Windows and a Hanging which tells the story of one sexual

violence survivor’s disclosure leading to the suicide of another survivor. 3 The crux of this

suicide, however, is not the rape, but talking about it. The stigma attached to sexual violence

in Kosovo is so strong that some survivors have told no one to this day. 4 The number 20,000,

the most commonly-cited estimate for the number of women raped in Kosovo, is a good

example of one of the harms this silence and stigma has caused. The number 20,000, is hotly

disputed and likely completely inaccurate5 precisely because no one could talk about it.

The stigma of sexual violence coincided with, and perhaps contributed to the

institutional neglect of survivors. Link and Hatzenbuehler suggest a link between stigma and

policy inaction. They conclude in their study on the policy implications of stigma that

stigmatized groups may be a prime candidate for institutional neglect because: “When

2 Chick, Kristen. 2016. Ending the Shame of Kosovo’s Rape Victims. February 22.

foreignpolicy.com/2016/02/22/the-rape-victims-of-kosovo-bosnia-commission/. 3 Di Lellio, "Seeking Justice for Wartime Sexual Violence in Kosovo”, 621. 4 Zejneli, Amra. 2014. How Long Can You Keep A Secret? For Kosovo's Wartime Rape Victims, The Answer Is:

Maybe Forever. May 29. https://www.rferl.org/a/kosovo-wartime-rape-victims-kept-secret/25403115.html. 5 Ahmetaj, N., & Unger , T. (2017). Kosovo’s Framework for Dealing With the Past at a Turning Point. PAX.

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stigmatization is successful, the stigmatized count less—they are less worthy of attention, less

deserving.”6

Kosovo’s Liberation from Serbian oppression did not bring institutional support to

survivors of sexual violence, or generally to women’s concerns. As Di Lellio notes, “Though

Milošević was gone, neither the interim international administration, nor the domestic elites

went past the mere formal support of women’s rights.”7 During Kosovo’s decade-long period

of international administration and intervention preceding its statehood, women experienced

policy backsliding in terms of empowerment and inclusion.8

Women protested their exclusion from the March 2006 Ahtisaari talks under the banner

“No more flowers! We want power,” but their hard-won audience with ambassadors was

disappointing. Ambassadors only gave excuses blaming “Albanian traditionalism” and saying

they “had not come to Kosovo to discuss women’s rights.”9 They revived this protest slogan

on March 8, 2012 specifically for sexual violence survivors: “We don’t want flowers, we want

justice for women and girls raped during the war.”10 For most, justice never came. UNMIK’s

improper investigation led to a “legacy of impunity which later prosecutors have been unable

to remedy,” and very few convictions have been secured across the relevant courts.11 The few

survivors who testified at the ICTY suffered in vain: their identities were revealed, they were

cross-examined by Milošević himself, and Milošević died without being convicted.12

6 Link, B., & Hatzenbbuehler, M. L. (2016). Stigma as an Unrecognized Determinant of Population Health:

Research and Policy Implications. Population Health, 655-673. 7 Di Lellio, "Seeking Justice for Wartime Sexual Violence in Kosovo”, 631. 8 Kosova Women's Network. (2011). 1325 Facts & Fables. Prishtina, Kosovo: The Kosova Women's Network. 9 Luci and Gusia, "Our Men Will Not Have Amnesia”, 208-210. 10 Halili, D. (2018, 03 09). Three Decades of Protest. Retrieved 06 11, 2018, from

http://kosovotwopointzero.com/en/three-decades-protest/ 11 Amnesty International. 2017. “Wounds that Burn Our Souls". London: Amnesty International Ltd. 12 Di Lellio, "Seeking Justice for Wartime Sexual Violence in Kosovo”, 632.

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2.2 Policy Change

A recent UN Report notes that: “In a few short years, discussion of conflict-related

sexual violence has increased exponentially at various levels of government” and credits

“advocacy campaigns” for this policy change, saying that they: “have served to break the

previously deafening silence on sexual violence and strengthen government support for

survivors.”13 It is beyond the scope of this paper to include a history of all “reparative

initiatives” which played a role in this policy change, but the following summary of actions is

useful for understanding this paper’s subsequent analysis:14

Kosovo elected its first female president, Atifete Jahjaga who served from 2011 to

2016, made sexual survivors’ cause a priority for her administration.15 In 2012, Jahjaga

attended the International Summit on Women’s Empowerment which led to the Pristina

Principles calling for the state to: “confirm that conflict, post-conflict and transitional justice

processes and institutions are gender sensitive[,]…acknowledge the legal status of rape victims,

publicly recognize the magnitude of their experiences, compensate them for their injuries and

prosecute the perpetrators.”16 President Jahjaga went on to found the National Council for the

Survivors of Sexual Violence (henceforth referred to as “the National Council”) which

operated from March 5, 2014 until the end of her presidency.17 The National Council was a

network of activists, including civil society organizations working directly with survivors since

the war.

13 UN Women. (2016). The Conflict Did Not Bring Us Flowers. Pristina: UN Women. 14 Ibid. For a detailed timeline of “reparative initiatives” for CRSV survivors in Kosovo, see

Annex 1 of the previously-cited report. 15 Plesch, Valerie. 2015. On the road with Kosovo's first female president. October 21. Accessed April 17, 2018.

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/women-make-change/2015/10/road-kosovo-female-president-

151021070704139.html. 16 Vulaj, Sexual Violence during the Kosovo War,” 6. 17 National Council for the Survivors of Sexual Violence in Conflict. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.president-ksgov.net/en/national-council-for-the-suvivors-of-sexual-violence-in-conflict

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Perhaps the most-important change came in 2014, when advocates succeeded in

amending Kosovo’s law on civilian victims and veterans (henceforth referred to as “the

compensation law”) to include compensation for survivors of sexual violence. Civil society,

victims, and experts were consulted to develop an application process that would be trauma-

sensitive and confidential,18 but survivors may not apply because of the history of

stigmatization and institutional neglect among other reasons. Whether or not survivors will

apply remains to be seen, as a four-year delay between the 2014 amendment of the law and its

implementation has meant that applications just opened February 5, 2018.19

18 Chick, Ending the Shame of Kosovo’s Rape Victims.

19 Morina, Die. 2018. Kosovo Urges Wartime Rape Survivors to Register. January 30.

www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kosovo-war-raped-to-apply-for-their-legal-status-01-30-2018/1440/2.

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Chapter 3: Literature Review and Conceptual Framework:

While “Heroinat” might be considered a memorial in a more traditional sense,

“Thinking of You” appears to straddle the line between memorial, art installation, and

awareness campaign, and feminist festival FEMART includes performances and other

elements which serve political and memory-building ends alongside educative and other aims.

Deciding what to call these things together is no easy task, as they do not fit neatly into any

one category. I have decided to call them “public art efforts” for the sake of simplicity. The

word “public” serves as an antonym to “private,” denoting visibility, participation, and state-

support.

I conceptualize this study of the selected public art efforts as a context-specific case

study exploring “artistic mechanisms to move society from silence to solidarity,” thus

countering the historical silence, stigmatization, and institutional neglect faced by sexual

violence survivors and described in Chapter 2. This history forms the basis of the problem to

which I assume the profiled public art efforts offer a potential solution. This assumption is

based in part on a UN Report which identifies public awareness campaigns and

memorialization as possible ways to address stigma, considering them as forms of “symbolic

reparations” which have potential to address “harm that cannot be repaired with money (such

as stigma)” and reinforce “the message of membership and dignity.”20

There is a specific interest in addressing this stigma in Kosovo, as evidenced by the

aforementioned UN report’s recommendations, the existence of the recent KRCT and British

Embassy workshop “Hear my voice: Addressing the stigma surrounding the survivors of sexual

violence during war in Kosovo.”21 One of the gaps which this research attempts to fill is on

20 UN Women. “The Conflict Did Not Bring Us Flowers” 25-26. 21 Kosova Women's Network. (2011). 1325 Facts & Fables. Prishtina, Kosovo: The Kosova Women's Network.

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mechanisms for destigmatization of sexual violence survivors. The recent UN report point to

the urgency of studying efforts alleviating stigma in light of its possible “life-long, and

sometimes lethal, repercussions for both survivors and for children conceived through rape.”

I draw on the literature of memorialization to inform this study because

memorialization can include public art and includes research on processes of memorialization.

The first recommendation of scholars is not to seek a one-size-fits-all recipe given the necessity

of context-specific approaches, but they still offer some general recommendations such as

including as many relevant stakeholders as possible, especially survivors.22 The inclusion of

civil society is credited with increasing trust in the process, but the inclusion of government

can be important when it comes to resources such as: The consensus in the literature on

memorialization suggests that purely government-initiated efforts are generally not trusted.

There are some emerging standards by which to assess a public memorial. Some of the

suggested standards are: transparency, inclusiveness, public participation, truthfulness, and

responsiveness, among other things.23 For this research, I assume that each public art effort

should ideally include as many of these as possible. There is insufficient space in this paper to

discuss each one in depth, but the presence or absence of these standards in the process of a

particular public art effort will be discussed in relation to potential impacts and

recommendations. The literature on memorialization suggests that “historical memory is a

fairly new and uncharted area of public policy”24 which means that studies which include

memorialization with a focus on policy relevance could have particular value.

22 Brett, S., Bickford, L., Ševcenko, L., & Rios, M. (2017). Memorialization and Democracy: State Policy and

Civic Action., (pp. 1-37). 23 Ibid. 24 Barsalou, J., & Baxter, V. (2008). The Urge to Remember The Role of Memorials in Social Reconstruction and Transitional Justice. Stabilization and Reconstruction, 1-17.

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The general conclusion supported in the literature is that memorialization policy is

poorly-developed in Kosovo, although Kosovo has no shortage of memorials. In 2013, Kosovo

passed a law to establish an Agency for the Management of Memorial Complexes of Kosovo

which documented 132 sites including “92 monuments and 40 martyrs’ cemeteries

commemorating heroes and victims of war.”25 The September 2015 Centre for Research,

Documentation and Publication made recommendations to shape an inclusive official policy

on memorialization,26 but none were adopted. A committee designed for Dealing With the Past

Failed.27

The study of memorialization in Kosovo is comparatively well-developed, with

explorations considering such topics as ethnic inclusivity in post-conflict memorialization. It

is worth noting that ethnically inclusive memorialization is a problem in Kosovo, with

ethnically inclusive memorials being exceptionally rare. The one ethnically inclusive memorial

I found record of in Kosovo was the 2011 YIHR “Wall of the Missing” which included the

names of 1,819 missing persons and placed chairs in front of it to represent the families waiting

for knowledge of their loved one’s fates. The wall was vandalized, with names of Serbian

missing persons crossed out with spray paint and the memorial ultimately removed.28 Visoka

notes that ethnically-inclusive memorialization which takes a virtual form may have more

potential for inclusivity. Virtual forms of memorialization are generally beyond the scope of

this research, but the Humanitarian Law Center’s Kosovo Memory Book, and story-telling

25 Baliqi, B. (2018). Contested war remembrance and ethnopolitical identities in Kosovo. Nationalities Papers,

471-486. 26 Sweeney, J. (2015). Post-War Memorialization and Dealing With the Past in the Republic of Kosovo. Pristina,

Kosovo: Centre for Research, Documentation and Publication. 27 Ahmetaj, N., & Unger , T. (2017). Kosovo’s Framework for Dealing With the Past at a Turning Point. PAX. 28 Kurze, A. (2016). #WarCrimes #PostConflictJustice #Balkans: Youth, Performance Activism and the Politics

of Memory. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 453.

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initiatives by CRDP and the NGO Integra, are worth noting because they represent successful

examples of memorialization involving bottom-up processes.29

Since I attempt to consider the role of the profiled public art efforts in social and

institutional change, I am particularly interested in memorialization and public art as activism.

The memorialization of missing persons in Kosovo is a case in point. The category of civilian

victims is generally marginalized in memorialization,30 but the missing have been “actively

remembered on an individual and social level since their disappearance”31 In his work on

memorialization of missing children, Berisha links memorialization to activism, suggesting

that remembrance is “crucial to social justice to clarify [missing persons’] fate.” Activism for

the issue of missing persons has also included several performative art pieces displayed in

Pristina in 2012 and 2013.32

According to Kurze, “performative acts, including temporary street exhibits and

interactive installations in public spaces”33 are an emerging form of youth activism in the

Balkans. Kurze defines these performance acts as “strategic confrontation spaces” which he

argues lift “governments’ lingering veil of silence around holistically addressing past mass

atrocities,”34 a purpose which would be consistent with the reversal of institutional silence and

neglect with which this paper is concerned. The public art efforts here are united by their artistic

approaches to recognition, acknowledgement, and public visibility of sexual violence

survivors’ plights and women’s issues.

29 Visoka, G. (2016). Arrested Truth: Transitional Justice and the Politics of Remembrance in Kosovo. Journal

of Human Rights Practice, 62-80. 30 Gordon, C. (2015). A Resistance, Remembered? Remembrance, Commemoration and the Parallel System In

Prishtina, Kosovo. SIT Digital Collections. 31 Berisha, R. (2017). "Forgetting Equals Killing:" Loss and Remembrance of the Missing Children in Post-War

Kosovo. Anthropology of East Europe Review, 39-54. 32 Ibid. 33 Kurze, #WarCrimes #PostConflictJustice #Balkans, p. 453. 34 Ibid. 467.

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The consensus in memorialization literature about memorialization of women’s war

experiences is that it is rare, especially in “newly democractic societies” where the

memorizalization honors “the ‘great men’ who prevailed during the conflict at the expense of

marginalized groups, such as women and ordinary citizens also involved in the struggle.”35

This trend rings true in Kosovo where even women who fought and died for the KLA “are

hardly featured in memorials.” (Di Lellio, 2013) In post-conflict contexts such as Kosovo, rape

is considered an inconvenient narrative of victimhood (Luci), and the acknowledgement of

ethnically motivated rape can be an “unwelcome legacy” during reconstruction.36

The tendency to silence rape has been the norm globally. As Judith Herman explained

in Trauma and Recovery: “the most common form of trauma of women remains confined to

the sphere of private life, without formal recognition or restitution from the community. There

is no public monument for rape survivors.”37 Usually, this rings true such as in the case of

Ireland’s insufficiently acknowledged survivors38 (O'Rourke & Swaine, 2017), but is it

possible that memorialization and public art are playing a role in the nascent reversal of the

tendency to suppress rape histories and banish them from the public consciousness? Recent

examples of art-based public acknowledgement for rape survivors include a U.S.-based public

art campaign calling for a monument and creating a touring installation of survivors’ stories on

quilts,39 (Nagle, 2014) as well as Columbia University student Emma Sulkowicz’ 2014-2015

35 Barsalou & Baxter, The Urge to Remember, 1-17. 36 Kennedy-Pipe, Caroline, and Penny Stanley. 2001. "Rape in War: Lessons of the Balkan Conflicts in the

1990s." In The Kosovo Tragedy: The Human Rights Dimensions, by Ken Booth, 67-86. London: Frank Cass

Publishers. 37 Herman, J. (1992). Trauma and Recovery. Basic Books. 73. 38 O'Rourke, C., & Swaine, A. (2017). Gender, violence and reparations in Northern Ireland: a story yet to be

told. International Journal of Human Rights, 1302-1319. 39 Nagle, R. (2014, 8 13). Public Monument to Rape Survivors Garners Public Support. Retrieved from

Huffington Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-nagle/rape-survivor-monument-

quilt_b_5675103.html?guccounter=1

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“Mattress Performance” (“Carry that Weight”) which grew into a larger movement against

campus sexual assault and perhaps also into the enormous #MeToo movement.40

Although the acknowledgment of rape public art seems to be increasing, this

acknowledgment appears not to be institutionally-supported. Regionally, such as in Bosnia,

where rape was also systematic, the Women Victims of War Association campaigns for

recognition of sexual violence and women’s suffering, but its efforts have mostly been rejected

by government in favor of less-humiliating narratives which serve ethnonationalist ambitions

(Jacobs, 101).41 Against its own backdrop of institutional silence and failure to publicly

acknowledge sexual violence, Kosovo’s recent public art efforts acknowledging sexual

violence survivors are particularly interesting. Art appears to be an emerging mechanism

adopted to address stigmatization in Kosovo, as evidenced by “funding and support for

campaigns utilizing creative art forms such as the song “Silence of a Song”, movie “Three

Windows and a Hanging’ as well as theatre and street performances.”

If public acknowledgement of rape is rare, and institutionalized acknowledgement is

even rarer, how then did a young, post-conflict country which ignored sexual violence

survivors and suppressed women’s concerns end up with highly-visible public art efforts

acknowledging them? It is important to note that Kosovo still has examples of performance-

based art activism which is far from institutionally supported. Feminist collective HaveIt is

particularly famous for “The Kiss,” a performance in which the sisters kissed in public on

Valentine’s Day for which they received hundreds of death threats which police dismissed and

mishandled. In 2013, HaveIt did a performance in support of sexual violence survivors which

protested comments in parliament suggesting that survivors should have to be examined to

40 Bishop, C. (2018, January 29). Emma’s uni didn’t believe she was raped. So she became ‘Mattress Girl'.

Retrieved from Mama Mia: https://www.mamamia.com.au/mattress-girl/ 41 Jacobs, J. (101). The memorial at Srebrenica: Gender and the social meanings of collective memory in

Bosnia-Herzegovina. Memory Studies, 423-439.

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receive a pension. The performance involved crushing apples, a cultural symbol of “beauty,

virginity, purity” to highlight that examining survivors would require opening them “to see if

they are ‘rotten’ or virgins.”42

Since HaveIt’s performance of apples, Kosovo gained the three public art efforts which

are the focus of this paper. “Heroinat” is the subject of great controversy and criticism for its

lack of survivor and civil society participation, ethnic inclusivity, and transparency.

Interviewees in the one study I am aware of which included interviewee perceptions of

“Heroinat” discussed criticisms of “Heroinat” on the basis of: lack of survivor consultation and

societal discussion, lack of transparency, lack of inclusivity, and the fear that “Heroinat” would

be a “throwaway political gesture rather than an offer of genuine support for the victims,” and

a variety of other flaws.43 “Heroinat” was the subject of a short documentary which sandwiches

the opinions of scholars and activists between conspiratorial black-bar transitions set to

foreboding music.44 As far as I am aware, no one documented the process of “Heroinat’s”

creation.45

“Thinking of You,” went viral internationally, but its backstory has yet to be told as far

as I know, nor has it been thoroughly or critically analyzed for procedural insights. The process

of its creation was documented in a documentary, but the film is mostly promotional. FEMART

has received some media coverage, but its story and contribution to social change have also yet

to be explored or documented as far as I know.

The memorialization literature emphasizes that a clear understanding of “the goals the

project is trying to achieve” as well as “willingness to track changes over time” are important

42 Mehmetaj, V. (2017, January 13). Haveit The Powerpuff Girls of Pristina. Retrieved from Kosovo 2.0:

http://kosovotwopointzero.com/en/haveit-powerpuff-girls-prishtina/ 43 Sweeney, J. (2015). “Post-War Memorialization.” 44 Cigon, A. (Director). (2015). HEROINAT [Motion Picture]. 45 It could be that I would find more documentation of Heroinat in Albanian.

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prerequisites for tracking the success of a memorial project.46 For “Heroinat,” there is relatively

little clarity about any details of the process, including the memorial’s intentions. The goals of

“Thinking of You” and FEMART are somewhat clearer but could still be better articulated and

preserved. This research also contributes to tracking changes over time by documenting

perspectives of stakeholders in the present: Three years after “Heroinat” and “Thinking of You”

(both unveiled June 12, 2015), and in the 6th year of FEMART.

The documentation comes in the form of short profiles47 which, while far from

comprehensive, are intended to help clarify the intentions and processes of these public art

efforts which I hope might prove thought-provoking, contribute to subsequent analysis, and

possibly facilitate further research. Although this study cannot definitively reveal and evaluate

the impact of these public art efforts on society and policy, it seeks to consider what that impact

might be and offer some analysis in relation to the main themes of institutional support and

process. The findings are discussed throughout Chapter 5 and culminate in the list of

recommendations and considerations, a further research section, and my conclusion.

46 Barsalou & Baxter, The Urge to Remember, 3. 47 Professor Margaret Jenkins suggested snapshots were the best I could strive for given the limits of the assignment, so I prefer that the reader consider these profiles more like still-developing polaroids.

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Chapter 4: Methodology and Limitations

4.1 Methodology

My methods were primarily in-depth, semi-structured interviews which are useful for

understanding the details of processes, the participants’ goals and motivations, and the opinions

of various stakeholders. I rely on thick description which Thompson argues is well-suited to

policy research because of its democratic and participatory nature, resonance with the public,

usefulness in contextualizing data, and ability to capture depth and complexity.48

I conducted 12 interviews ranging from 17:37 minutes to 1 hour and 54 minutes in

length. I tried to interview people from various categories including: activists, artists, festival

or project participants, civil society, politicians, and survivors. The participants, whom I will

occasionally refer to only by their last names, included:

Anna Di Lellio (Producer of “Thinking of You”)

Alketa Xhafa Mripa (Artist of “Thinking of You”)

Alma Lama (Former Parliamentarian and Initiator of “Heroinat”)

Illir Blakçori (Artist of “Heroinat”)

Sebahate Pacolli-Krasniqi (Head of Rehabilitation Unit at KRCT)

Nora Ahmetaj (Transitional Justice Researcher at CRDP)

Agnesa Xheladini (Project Coordinator of FEMART)

Zana Hoxha Krasniqi (Founder/Director of Artpolis and FEMART)

Donjeta Morina (KIPRD, FEMART Participant)

48 Thompson, W. (2001). Policy Making through Thick and Thin: Thick Description as a Methodology for

Communications and Democracy. Policy Sciences, 63-77.

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Saranda Bogujevci (Parliamentarian, Former Director of Culture, Survivor, Artist)

Vesa Qena, Hana Qena, and Alketa Sylaj (Members of HaveIt Art Collective)

Mina Nikolić (Serbian Actress Playing Helen of Troy at FEMART)

I began most interviews with the participant’s self-introduction, although sometimes

this was omitted. I had a list of basic, mostly open-ended questions which I modified to each

participant to make sure I could get some specific insights into stakeholders’ experiences and

perceptions. I asked follow-up or clarification questions when appropriate. A minority of my

interviews also took a more informal and conversational tone for various reasons. Sometimes

this meant that I was sharing my own thoughts and perceptions, but I took care to withhold my

opinions about the public art efforts until after I heard the participants’ opinions. It just so

happened that I only interviewed one man, Illir Blakçori, although I would have been open to

interviewing other men to get a more nuanced impression of their opinions.

I started with a formal consent form offering participants the option of anonymity,49 but

rejected the use of the form after my second interview. Kosovo is a small place and the topic

of these public art efforts (especially “Heroinat”) is controversial and political, thus I reasoned

that people might be more liberal in offering criticisms if they could be anonymous. What I

found is that the consent form would either set the wrong tone (one of excessive formality or

suspicion), make interviewees uncomfortable, irritate them, or pose a practical obstacle. In my

first interview, Anna Di Lellio expressed her distaste for the practice of having the consent

form altogether. In her words:

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“I don’t want to even see those things; I’m so against them…You’re not making

experiments on me…If I don’t want to say something, I won’t tell you, or I’ll say: ‘Don’t quote

me on this.’”

This is the approach that more experienced interviewees seemed to take in terms of

feeling comfortable telling me that they would just specify what I could and could not write

about or attribute to them.

A form requiring a signature was impractical when interviews were conducted remotely

over skype or Facebook call. Two of my interviews took place over skype, and two took place

over Facebook call. I was somewhat concerned that contacting participants on Facebook might

be considered unprofessional, but it proved very practical given the proliferation of social

media. Facebook call also proved more reliable. Calls dropped occasionally or were

interrupted, but participants went to admirable lengths to reconnect with me: Saranda

Bogujevci even left parliament to talk with me, making several attempts to find new locations

in the building with better signal.

I used participant observation to inform my analysis of FEMART. I believe

participation in FEMART had the added benefits of helping me conceptualize gender equality

in Kosovo and allowing me to interact with stakeholders, including other participants, in a more

experiential way. I believe it improved my ability to analyse and contextualize all three public

art efforts.

4.2 Limitations and Considerations

Survivor Perspectives: I was open to interviewing survivors, but I did not think I could

develop sufficient rapport with survivors, or gatekeepers, given the time I had. I was pleased

to find a fantastic alternative in a sensitive and detailed UN report surveying survivor

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perceptions.50 I was also satisfied with the nuanced survivor perspectives shared by people I

interviewed who work closely with them. To their credit, everyone I asked for about survivor

perceptions was very conscious that they cannot speak for survivors and gave me a disclaimer

to that effect. Some of the thoughts they shared will be mentioned.

Language: My lack of language skills restricted me to English which did not exclude most of

the people I wanted to interview, but surely affected their abilities to express themselves.

After or during interviews, it was common for the interviewee to apologize for their English

or say they could not find the right words. It was clear that the topic was important to

everyone interviewed, so they seemed to place a high value on being understood. I tried to

practice active listening and ask for clarification when necessary to check for understanding. I

also believe that the language barrier caused some problems in terms of me being understood

properly. I am aware that I need to become better at asking clear questions to non-native

speakers. Language was also a problem when it came to reading articles or watching content

in Albanian, a particularly significant barrier in understanding “Heroinat” since much of the

media that exists on it is in Albanian.

Opposing Viewpoints: I did not interview representatives of the Ministry of Environmental

and Spatial Planning. I believe that I did get the perspectives of the two most-important

stakeholders in “Heroinat” and found consistency between their accounts which suggests

accuracy. Still, I believe lack of ministry perspective is a serious limitation in understanding

the institutional support and process of “Heroinat.”

Time: Including FEMART my research necessitated delaying my intended research trip

significantly to correspond with FEMART’s dates. I could only attend four days of the six-day

event because of flight availability and other obligations. Both the timing of the trip, and its

50 UN Women. “The Conflict Did Not Bring Us Flowers.”

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duration were a significant limitation. My trip concluded before several of FEMART’s most-

relevant activities including a panel on “Justice for Murdered Women as a Result of Domestic

Violence,” where Former President Atifete Jahjaga would be speaking, a panel on “Young

People for Peace and Activism,” and the event closing. The late trip left me fewer than two

weeks to process all interviews and finish writing, with my last interview taking place a scant

ten days before my deadline. I am confident I could have gotten several more very important

interviews if I had the time. I will also not be able to include insights from FEMART’s own

evaluation process that will take place shortly after I hand this paper in.

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Chapter 5: Discussion

5.1 “Heroinat”

Figure 1 The sculpture “Heroinat” designed by Artist Illir Blakçori.

“Heroinat,” spear-headed by then Parliamentarian Alma Lama and designed by Artist

Illir Blakçori, was commissioned by female parliament members and erected in Kosovo’s

Parku Heroinat directly across from its famous “NEWBORN” independence monument. The

sculpture includes 20,145 medals bearing the image of a typical Albanian woman and

combining to form a mosaic of that image.

The full English inscription reads:

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This memorial is built by 20,145 medals which symbolically honor the versatile

contribution and sacrifice of every ethnic Albanian woman during the 1998-1999 war in

Kosovo. At the same time, this memorial remembers the cruel crime of rape carried out by the

Serbian forces during the last war, against nearly 20,000 women. By joining the contributions

and sacrifices of all women, the huge portrait of the Kosovar heroin is shaped. The portrait

reflects values of dignity, dedication, education, care, courage and endurance.

The process of bringing the memorial into being began with a vote to include funding

for it in the 2013 national budget. According to Alma Lama, her initial project proposal had

the following three components:

1. Recognize women’s general sacrifices (e.g. protection of the family, childcare and

care of the elderly, going into the mountains, etc.).

2. Recognize the women who fought or died as part of the KLA.

3. To mention/acknowledge the systematic war crime of sexual violence.

The proposal was unanimously selected in parliament, and 120,000 Euros were

allocated for the construction, then the project fell into the hands of Kosovo’s Ministry of

Environment and Spatial Planning which was supposed to solicit a design for the sculpture

through a contest. The Ministry held three contests soliciting artistic designs for the sculpture,

but the first and second contest failed due to an insufficient number of entries.

Lama said the ministry wanted to remove funding for the project which was

continuously delayed causing her to take an active role. As she explained:

“It was not my plan to go after the ministry and ask them for every detail, but one day

I called them: ‘Look, what is going on with this amendment?’ and they said “Nothing. We

haven’t opened the competition.’ I said, ‘What?’…“I asked my colleagues in the parliament,

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women parliamentarians also, to go and to speak with them…After I see the results of their

work, then I included myself.”

Blakçori, the winning artist, applied for the final contest without expecting to win. Both

Lama and Blakçori fondly remember his mother presenting his proposal to parliamentarians on

his behalf because he was away on business in Albania. It seems that this was one bright spot

in a process which had many bitter obstacles.

Blakçori was not expecting to construct the project but found out this was obligatory.

Then, he began to realize it would be very expensive. He tried to subcontract it but received a

quote that was three times the budget for the project. He says that the construction ultimately

went 30-40,000 Euros over budget, which he contributed from his own money because he

believed in the mission of the project and was determined not to compromise on the design or

quality. Heroinat was a significant construction feat, requiring an estimated 13 km in metal

tubing and the drilling of 40,000 holes, as well as 7-8 months of construction work.

Blakçori analyzed photographs of women to design the face, taking pictures of women

everywhere he went and drawing hundreds of prototypes in his attempt to reach a facial

expression which he believed portrayed “hope.” The initial proposal was a digitized design

bearing a face that was criticized for looking like a woman having an orgasm. B explains this:

“We had a very few days to apply, and I took a face, a random face, and I started to combine

and do some experiments on the face, but that was only a draft idea of what I was trying to

build.” The rumors did not end there, as B also faced allegations of plagiarism. He picked up a

metal toy and showed it to me: “It’s a pin art,” he said, explaining that pin art has existed for a

long time, but that his design idea was original.

Before construction started, he applied to the A’ Design Award and Competition and

got the golden award for 2014. He believes the project would not have happened without this

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prize which “opened the doors to build it” by changing the response he received from the

Ministry immediately. He said he was met with applause on his next trip to the ministry, but

“The day before [the prize] nobody even was talking to me how to come up with a situation to

bring it to life.”

Heroinat was constantly criticized, but the project went through. Both Lama and

Blakçori believe that the criticisms of the project mostly evaporated on the day of its opening

when people could see it. Although interviewees mentioned many criticisms about the various

aspects of Heroinat’s process and design, several mentioned being happy it exists. As Ahmetaj

said: “Heroinat, regardless of what you think about it as a concept, it’s good that we have it.”

In five of the other interviews, participants mentioned without prompting, that they believe

Heroinat’s image will also change over time. As Hoxha-Krasniqi said: “From the beginning

[Heroinat] has raised a lot of discussions, a lot of criticisms, although for me, I think that it is

one of these art pieces which will be valued later.”

Blakçori intended to make something modern that would resonate with people 20 years

from now, encouraging reflection and reminding the government and society to care about the

survivors. In his words: “It is very difficult for those women…Our country didn’t do a lot about

this. I wanted to remember, to government, to everybody that they are alive, and we have to

take care of them.”

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5.2 “Thinking of You”

Figure 2 “Thinking of You” Art Installation 2015, by Alketa Xhafa Mripa, Courtesy of the Artist. Foto Credit:

Jetmir Idrizi

On any other day, Pristina’s national football stadium would be full of men playing

football, but on June 12, 2015, it was the site of something much different: clotheslines with

5,000 dresses of every size and color, and even a few pairs of pants, fluttering in the wind. The

title of this art installation and awareness campaign “Thinking of You,” created by British

Kosovar Artist Alketa Xhafa Mripa and Italian Producer Anna Di Lellio, very clearly expresses

what the installation intended to do for sexual violence survivors: to show we are thinking

about them and to make society think about them. The laundry line was a nod to the expression

“airing dirty laundry” (bringing personal issues out into the open), and part of the message was

that there should be no guilt or shame for survivors. The dresses were clean.

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According to Xhafa-Mripa, although the initial exhibition of the piece was in London

at her one woman show “You just don’t talk about it”, the idea was always to realize a much

larger-scale participatory version in Kosovo. As I learned from the interviews, the realization

of the campaign was directly linked to policy implementation and the need for a

destigmatization mechanism.

When Di Lellio saw the installation at Xhafa-Mripa’s exhibition, she could not resist

coming back to it repeatedly. She teaches International Affairs at The New School in New

York where she had two students who interned with the National Council for the Survivors of

Sexual Violence, thus she knew that the council was actively looking to design a public

awareness strategy in response to the 2014 amendment of the compensation law. The National

Council was concerned that the benefits of the compensation law would not reach survivors

because the stigma would prevent them from applying, so as Di Lellio said, “There was a very

pressing issue of, I wouldn’t say mainstreaming the problem, but making it less of a taboo.”

Di Lellio and Xhafa-Mripa decided to submit a concept paper to then President Atifete

Jahjaga who enthusiastically accepted the idea within a day. The project progressed very

quickly: preparation began at the end of March 2015, dress collection began in early May, and

the installation premiered on Kosovo’s Liberation Day June 12, 2015 (the same day as

“Heroinat”) for a single day only.

Kosovo’s first female president, Atifete Jahjaga, sponsored the campaign and donated

the first skirt in a highly-publicized photo opportunity. Di Lellio says people imitated the

president in a “ritualized way” when they donated dresses at the 12 collection locations they

toured throughout the country. Pacolli-Krasniqi estimated that 90% of survivors receiving

services knew about and appreciated it “Thinking of You.” She says survivors also felt

solidarity from the society:

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“Seeing this population coming and donating skirts, it was very supportive for

them…‘They understand my sufferings. They want to contribute something in order that my

situation can get better.”

Di Lellio also noted that survivors felt solidarity from the world, including the Albanian

diaspora: a chance encounter with an Albanian in a park in New York led to an event resulting

in the collection of 250 dresses from the United States which Di Lellio then had to transport to

Kosovo for the project.

The installation received significant international publicity. One webpage under UK

Albanians hosts a list which is not exhaustive, yet still has more than 40 links to news coverage

about it. In my interview, Hoxha-Krasniqi said, “well I think that [“Thinking of You”] the most

publicly acknowledged art piece in Kosovo. Actually, I don’t think there is a more publicly

acknowledged [art piece] both inside and outside…It is unique because it has achieved to do

exactly that.”

Although “Thinking of You” was only displayed for a day, its initiators are still

spreading it around. Xhafa-Mripa says the piece was for Albanian Kosovan women, whom she

interviewed for the project, but she has intentions to expand this piece globally in other

countries and sees its relevance to survivors everywhere. Plans to reproduce the piece in

London were deferred due to bad weather in March, but Xhafa-Mripa continues to talk about

the piece abroad such as in the European parliament in Brussels this coming July.

A documentary was created which seems to have increased the sustainability of the

installation’s impact. As Di Lellio said: “We recorded the making of it through a documentary,

so the art installation lives on in a way, but not as a monument.” She continues to show the

documentary, and even offered me the chance to show it, but prefers not to make it available

online so that she can make sure showings include discussions and opportunities for questions.

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According to Di Lellio, the project cost was 14,000 euros, including all expenses and

the documentary. This money came from the UK Embassy, UN Women, the EU, a private

donor, The Office of the President, and the US Embassy.

5.3 FEMART

Figure 3 The mural painted as part of FEMART 2018.

From the beginning, it was clear that FEMART was no ordinary festival in the Balkans.

This year’s program began with a night-time performance of Elizabeth Swados’ “The Trojan

Women” on the grounds outside of Kosovo’s famous national library which seemed

appropriately ruinous and ancient by the light of the actors’ flaming torches. The performance

was made up of rhythmic syllables and chants invoking an ancient language and bringing

audiences into the story as they were physically ushered along behind the actors. The themes

of war, sexual violence, stigmatization, and oppression were vividly depicted, with the

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symbolic rape of Helen of Troy followed by Helen’s rejection and humiliation: Her shirt was

torn off and the other women smeared her bare breasts with mud before she was dragged to the

hillside, bound, and displayed for all to see. In the final scene, all the women donned chains

with tears glistening on their cheeks as they embraced each other in solidarity. Estimates from

the drone overhead suggest that an incredible 1,000 people attended.

Since 2013, FEMART (a program of non-profit Artpolis) has been “a platform for

starting and presenting ideas and creations that bring forward feminist concepts and their

development in Kosovo.”51 This year, FEMART took place for six days, from May 25-May

30th, and included more than 40 events in the cities of Prishtina, Ferizaj, and North Mitrovica.

The program was diverse and included a little of everything: theater, exhibitions, dance,

concerts, panel discussions, films, workshops, etc. The list of donors and sponsors included

more than 30 government, civil society organizations, and businesses.

According to Founder and Zana Hoxha Krasniqi, the ideas of “women’s empowerment,

taking our lives in our hands, [and] not waiting for others to become a leader” were the

inspiration for this year’s motto: “We Run the Show.” I later spoke with Helen of Troy, Serbian

Actress Mina Nikolic, who certainly felt empowered. She told me:

“To have courage to stand, and say something, and be heard. That is how I felt that

night…I felt that, even though I was half-naked, and I was a woman, in front of all those people

in front of the national library…I felt that I had the right to say something and I would be

heard, even in a made-up language.”

51

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At FEMART, not only do women speak, but women also get paid which is a very

important part of the festival’s story. “We need to invest in women,” Hoxha-Krasniqi said,

going as far as to say that investing in men is a waste of money:

“Every man I saw in Kosovo, who says I’m a feminist and so on…for the public eye,

yes they are feminists, but when it comes to being just a normal guy, they forget…That’s why

I am against investing in men. I’m pretty radical about this.” Mina Nikolic is a case in point,

as she was overjoyed to finally be getting real money for her art which she usually supports

working café jobs.

As for the issue of sexual violence, FEMART touched on it here and there. In Ferizaj,

they showed the documentary for “Thinking of You” and had a forum theater performance

called “Stigma.” According to FEMART Coordinator Agnesa Xheladini, a woman from the

audience replaced the actress that was playing the victim which represents fulfilling “the

highest aim of forum theater” which is “to make you feel that involved that you want to do

something for that woman in that moment.”

Corresponding with a relevant documentary, FEMART also engaged sexual violence

survivors three years ago by hosting 18 of them and a psychologist who supported them.

According to Hoxha-Krasniqi, “We never used their story as something to say we’re doing this.

I’m extremely proud that we handled it this way. That we never used them for any newspaper

or story.” Perhaps modelling a best practice for how public art efforts should include survivor

participation, survivors were treated just like all the other guests, and their attendance was kept

totally anonymous.

The festival adopts the same approach when it comes to the attendance of politicians.

Former President Atifete Jahjaga was a guest on a panel and one parliamentarian would

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perform in the play on the final night, but Hoxha-Krasniqi said FEMART is not meant to a

platform for them. As she told me,

“I saw a lot of members of the parliament in the opening yesterday, and there were also

political party members whom we don’t treat differently, if they come to FEMART they know

there will not be any speech for them.”

The way Hoxha-Krasniqi sees it, the value of FEMART to politicians is as an

opportunity to listen to the community, to network, and to hear activist’s perspectives. I met

Parliamentarian Saranda Bogujevci at FEMART.

When talking about the value of FEMART to the community, Donjeta Morina cited

“discussing topics that are never discussed in public” as well as “education.” She also called

FEMART “one of the biggest public events that brought [gender equality] to the forefront” and

credited FEMART with bringing Feminism into Kosovo’s vernacular:

"It really helped shift the public discourse on feminism from like, this little group of

women doing something to…it can be everywhere, in institutions, in art…everywhere.”

5.4 Potential Utility and Policy Impact:

The interviews revealed a variety of perspectives on the potential utility and impacts of

each public art effort. Not all interviewees gave opinions on, or were aware of, all efforts. The

perceived positive impacts which were ascribed to all projects by at least one interviewee were:

acknowledgment, awareness raising, agenda-setting, and domestic visibility for the issue of

sexual violence. Suggested impacts specific to each are as follows:

Heroinat: destigmatization of sexual violence survivors/raising their status in society, appeal

to tourists, place to mark anniversaries (e.g. “International Women’s Day” March 8th),

permanence, reminder to government to act, message of solidarity to survivors, reflection, and

combatting policy inaction.

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Thinking of You: destigmatization of sexual violence survivors/raising their status in society,

participation of the community, platform for institutional message of solidarity, international

visibility, and combatting policy inaction. “Thinking of You” represented a tool for

destigmatization with the intention of facilitating implementation of the compensation law.52

FEMART: empowering women, employing women, education about feminism, participation

of the community, opportunity for politicians to interact with the community, platform to send

a message to government, appeal to youth, and inspiring empathy and action. In my participant

observation, I identified international participation, appeal to tourists, and therapeutic value as

potential benefits.

Although many interviewees shared criticisms (the more insightful of which are

referenced and discussed later) about aspects of the profiled public art efforts’ processes,

designs, and participation, only one suggested that they had no impact on changing mindsets

domestically53 in Kosovo, or on the lives and fates of survivors. Ahmetaj said:

“I’m not saying that these campaigns can do miracles. No, I don’t expect, I’m not stupid

to believe that art can change the lives of people. The message was sent. That’s it…”

Ahmetaj also expressed a belief that art may be suited to other places but is too

“abstract” in the villages where survivors “lack very basic things.” This opinion reflects a

common criticism of symbolic reparations.54

52 Di Lellio believes it likely had an impact. She also perceives an increased assertiveness on the part of

advocates who are more emboldened to discuss this issue after the international campaign, a perception echoed

by Pacolli-Krasniqi. 53 Nora did note impacts for “Thinking of You” in terms of bringing survivors ahead in the agenda and raising

awareness internationally. 54 Sommer, D. (2015). Symbolic Reparations, a Good Joke. Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, 399-412.

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5.5 Institutional Support

“Especially the way things work in Kosovo, you know, when you have institutional

support it really gives you recognition in society, and I think that’s really important…For

something to have an impact in society…it has to have that acknowledgement.” - Saranda

Bogujevci

It would appear from my interviews that having institutional support behind public art

efforts has special significance in Kosovo for both practical and symbolic reasons. A survey of

survivors found that official acknowledgement and apology from Parliamentarians and the

Government was the symbolic reparation survivors wanted most (as opposed to awareness

campaigns and memorials).55 It is unclear exactly what factors affect whether or not a public

art effort will be perceived as a symbol of institutional acknowledgment in fulfillment of that

desire, but the potential role and impact of public art efforts in sending a message of

institutional acknowledgement merits further discussion.

In the documentary for “Thinking of You,” institutional support was a clear theme

frequently mentioned by people who donated dresses. In her interview, the artist specifically

mentioned institutional and government involvement as important components of “Thinking

of You” according to Xhafa-Mripa who and described “Thinking of You” as a “platform” for

the President “to reach a wider audience later on.” In this sense, the institutional support for

“Thinking of You” made it a means of communication between the institution and the society.

Presidential support may have functioned as a form of official symbolic recognition

which lent legitimacy to “Thinking of You.” Although referring to the cause of sexual violence

survivors, not “Thinking of You” specifically, Hoxha-Krasniqi situated the importance of

presidential support directly in the context of Kosovo’s history of institutional silence and

55 UN Women. (2016). The Conflict Did Not Bring Us Flowers. Pristina: UN Women. 25-26.

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neglect, saying Jahjaga: “acknowledged the responsibility that politicians or the states people

have in order to recognize this issue. Before that, it was not recognized by the state.” The role

of the president in advancing the cause of survivors, and/or in “Thinking of You,” was

mentioned in blank interviews.

It possible that the perception of institutional support as acknowledgement and

solidarity depends largely on the public perception of the specific politicians participating. The

president was very well-respected by survivors,56 but one interviewee mentioned that

“Heroinat” was “initialized by women politicians who were not so respected in the community

for whatever reason.” She also considered the gender of the artist important in dealing with this

particularly sensitive topic, and attributed perceived diminished support for Heroinat to the fact

that it was created by men and the opinions of women artists and activists were “not taken into

consideration.” The status of the president as a woman was mentioned in several interviews

and valued by survivors.57

Perhaps the individual status of a particular politician, and that politician’s primary role

in sponsoring a campaign, could also run the risk of increasing the perception that they are the

only politician supporting the survivors. As the UN report notes: “From the government, only

the President has been interested.”58

It is difficult to say which politicians’ endorsement will be taken as an expression of

institutional solidarity and which will be perceived as individual participation, but the presence

and participation of politicians in each of the three public art efforts was cited across interviews

as an indication of both institutional support and project success. This finding suggests that

increasing and broadening the participation of politicians in public art efforts in Kosovo might

56 Ibid. 38. 57 UN Women. (2016). The Conflict Did Not Bring Us Flowers. Pristina: UN Women. 58 Ibid.

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increase perceptions of institutional support and solidarity for the issues they address, as well

as contribute to the link between institutional support and a message of acknowledgment and

apology for institutional neglect.

All three of the public art efforts profiled here received institutional support, but the

form (symbolic, monetary, in kind, attendance, etc.) and degree of that institutional support

varied dramatically. The significant institutional support for Thinking of You seemed to have

positive implications for its feasibility. If you recall from the story of Thinking of You, the

project began as a concept paper in direct fulfillment of a known need59, accepted within a day,

and executed within a few months. When asked about the importance of institutional support,

Anna Di Lellio said, “Definitely there is a connection here. It occurred to me that it could have

been done only because of that (institutional support).”

In my interview with Anna Di Lellio, she said, “We did find, really, an open door. The

president was supporting us.” Interviews with Lama and B suggest that where “Thinking of

You” found an open door, “Heroinat” found a brick wall. “Heroinat” was a top-down process,

initiated and executed by the government, yet bogged down in bureaucracy almost immediately

after the parliamentarians unanimously voted to fund it.60 Ironically, the institutional

investment in it was substantial: 120,000 Euros for the sculpture, the location in Parku

Heroinat, and the landscaping (also designed by the artist). Still, Heroinat does not seem to be

accepted as a gesture of “institutional acknowledgment,” supporting the conclusion that

funding alone will not translate into community acceptance or a message of institutional

acknowledgment.

59 Anna Di Lellio’s knowledge of this need was insider knowledge reflecting her unique position as a scholar on

Kosovo. Her background may have had bearing on the success of “Thinking of You.” 60 The lack of further institutional support is reflected in the lobbying Alma Lama had to do for the project, and

in the artist’s tremendous personal expense for it. The artist believed it would never have happened if his Golden

A award had not changed his reception in the ministry, and he credited Alma Lama with being the only one who

cared.

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Public art efforts may be an important way for the institution to express support or

communicate a message of acknowledgement, but the real value of institutional support for

public art efforts which deal with sensitive topics may be in that they raise the stakes for

subsequent inaction and influence institutions to change themselves. This may also be a

strength of campaigns which are more participatory.

Speaking of “Thinking of You,” Pacolli-Krasniqi said:

“I can see a difference in the mindset in the population, in changing the perception of

the population, and the government as well. It really moved things…Our government couldn’t

stay aside and just ignoring it or just observing it. [They] have to do something…”

“I really appreciate everything that touched upon the topic of wartime rape because

every little action contributed to raising awareness…Also, Thinking of You and Heroinat led

to the institutional changes that happened now….That visibility led directly to public pressure.”

Institutional support, however, must be sincere. “Thinking of You” raised the

expectations of survivors that other changes would follow, but the snail’s pace of institutions

in Kosovo can leave survivors feeling forgotten, betrayed, or revictimized. The delays between

institutional and other forms of support/change was difficult for survivors to bear, and difficult

for advocates to explain. As Pacolli-Krasniqi told me:

“Within this four years after the law was amended, it was not so easy to convince

survivors that this [delay] is the natural flow of things…Of course, for some of them, some of

them already died…They will never receive benefits of this law.”

5.6 Participation

“I think that the process [for Heroinat] was wrong because this was funded with public

funds, and when it comes to public funds, there should be a larger involvement.”-Zana

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Many examples from the stories of Heroinat, “Thinking of You,” and FEMART

reinforce the importance of larger public involvement, including consultation and participation,

in ensuring the success of public art efforts intended to acknowledge sexual violence and

inspire social change. This problem is denounced in the literature, with scholars noting that

stakeholder participation is essential. Both “process as goal” and “participation” are seen as

essential elements of memorialization.61

This best practice was echoed by multiple interviewees including Morina who said,

“When you do actions like this…you should really consult survivors.” Bogujevci makes a

similar point and called explicitly for research being incorporated into the process:

“It’s difficult for me to say that this should be done or that should be done…I think it’s

something that you need to sit down and talk to the families, and talk to the victims, and do

some research on what’s being done elsewhere in the world and what’s the best way of

remembering…and also, what you’re doing, how it’s going to spark interest on people finding

more about that.”

61 Brett, et. al. Memorialization and Democracy: State Policy and Civic Action. 1-37.

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Chapter 6: Recommendations

Heroinat

Education: One of the main hopes of artist and initiator was that “Heroinat” would be used to

educate children about women’s contributions to the war. It appears that it has not been fully

utilized to this end, although it has at least been included in the field visits

Individual Stories: In her interview, Saranda Bogujevci mentioned the location of Heroinat

and suggested that, “in each corner there could have been a story” which would portray

survivors as individuals and show the nuance of their experiences. I did not have the

opportunity to ask the artist how he felt about this, but he did say that he was initially open to

including a quote from a survivor or civil society on the back of the sculpture where a Mother

Teresa quote now sits.

Dialogue: The Ministry of Environmental and Spatial Planning intends to add an

environmental sculpture to the park which the artist is not comfortable with. Perhaps public

discussion should be opened about the use of Parku Heroinat for sculptures that are not related

to the war, and/or whether or not an educational or story-based component could be added

there.

Put “Heroinat” on the Map: When I first visited Heroinat, I did what many international

visitors do and tried to type it into Google maps. Although this can be said for many locations

in Kosovo, Heroinat was not on the map. I saw a photo icon for “NEWBORN,” and I suggest

that one be sought for Heroinat.

General

Moral Support and Day of Remembrance: A commemoration day could provide a useful

opportunity for public awareness and discussion.

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Better Not More: Interviewees did not seem interested in more permanent memorials. As

Ahmetaj said, “One city to another city, you’ll find more memorials than trees.” The more

judicious use and regulation of existing memorials would be more favorable so as not to

cheapen their value.

Sincerity: Institutions which support public art efforts should follow-up with other kinds of

support so as not to turn these efforts into empty promises.

Follow-Up: Especially when a public art effort is used to facilitate the implementation of

another policy (e.g. Thinking of You and the compensation law), follow-up should be done to

facilitate implementation throughout.

Document: The realization of public art efforts should be documented for posterity, especially

when those efforts are meant to be durable. Documentation would also aid in transparency.

Documentation could also be made interactive, just as through a webpage tracking progress

and soliciting comments, or through a documentary such as the one for “Thinking of You”

which has been used to educate and continue the conversation.

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Chapter 7: Further Research

Greater Depth: Each of these efforts was rich enough to be its own case study, and could have

been understood in much greater depth or explored from different angles. I choose all three in

order to understand their comparative processes and potential, but I would have been able to

do this better if more information was available on each beforehand. The need for more

documentation remains. Perhaps now that I have told some of their stories, another researcher

will delve deeper into them or consider them relative to other projects within Kosovo or around

the world.

Institutional Acknowledgement: Is institutional support and acknowledgment as important

in older nations with stronger institutions as it is in Kosovo? Is the state as stakeholder in public

art efforts as valuable in relation to other issues? Comparing across contexts would be

interesting.

Perspectives of Men: I did ask my interviewees how they believe these projects influenced

societal perceptions and men’s perceptions specifically, but only one of my interviewees Illir

Blakçori was a man. I made no effort to exclude men’s perspectives from my research and

would have been interested in the opinions of men, but men’s voices were not a focus of this

research. It happened that everyone who was referred to me as having important knowledge on

this topic or been heavily involved in one of the projects was female. A recent OSCE study

shows much room for improvement in terms of men’s perspectives of gender equality, creating

a need for more research on interventions which might influence change.62 (OSCE, 2018)

Holistic Analysis of Art Events: Donors are interested in cultural and artistic interventions in

the interest of peacebuilding, gender equality, psycho-social support, civic participation, and a

62 OSCE. (2018). https://www.osce.org/mission-in-kosovo/382507?download=true. Pristina: OSCE Mission in

Kosovo.

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myriad of other causes. More in-depth research into these festivals, shedding light on the

interests and roles of the actors involved, participant and wider-societal perceptions and

responses to them, etc. would be of interest.

Advocacy Directors’ Perceptions: Asking organizations’ advocacy professionals about their

strategies and perceptions would have been very valuable in understanding how the three public

art efforts fit into policy change. I made contact with one such professional, Adelina Berisha

who works for Kosovo Women’s Network, but it was too late to arrange an interview with her.

Other NGO’s also have representatives working specifically on advocacy, public awareness,

and lobbying. To assess public awareness strategies in Kosovo, and to explore public art’s role

in these strategies, a survey of these professionals’ opinions would surely prove interesting. A

possible project focusing on public art as an advocacy tool could also include perspectives from

advocacy representatives working on other issues such as missing persons, a highly visible

issue with art playing a role.

Donors: I also would have liked to interview more donors such as representatives from UN

Women and the UK Embassy to understand why they contribute to projects like Thinking of

You and FEMART, and what value they perceive these to have. Why do they donate? Why

this project? What kinds of projects do they try to support?

Recommendation Options: Some of the recommendations I make, such as the establishment

of a would require significant additional research to determine the specifics of it. Before any

such project should be undertaken, a survey should be made of survivors. This should be

entrusted to the organizations who have a history of working directly with them, who are

familiar with the sensitivities of approaching them about such a topic, and who are invested in

their empowerment.

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Youth Inclusion: Several interviewees mentioned the perceptions of children of youth and the

use of public art for their education on gender equality and women’s histories. Context and

age-appropriate ways to include children and youth in public art efforts which deal with

sensitive matters should be undertaken.

Rural Communities: As Nora Ahmetaj told me: “Prishtina is not society; Prishtina is not

Kosovo. Forget Prishtina” and “Art is perfect in other places, but not in Krushe. Not in villages.

You bring art there, but it is abstract to them. They lack very basic things.” I did not conduct

any research outside of Pristina, but I know that FEMART and “Thinking of You” had

programs outside of Pristina. More research needs to be done on rural communities in order to

understand how public art efforts might be received there and how to adapt them to the needs

of each community.

Therapeutic Value: Considering the therapeutic value of each public art effort was beyond

the scope of this research, but it is certainly very important. Whether or not public art efforts

have a healing effect should be considered, as should any potential they might have for

psychological harm. A suggestion for a future study could be surveying psychologists and

survivors about their emotions relating to public art efforts. Trauma-sensitivity is paramount.

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Chapter 8: Conclusion

This research is a meditation on artistic mechanisms which move society from silence

to solidarity, a case study about anomalous public art which puts issues of gender and sexual

violence into the public consciousness in the young, post-conflict context of Kosovo. Analysis

of the public art efforts profiled here shows that institutional support is an important factor in

the success of public art efforts in Kosovo, as well as on the institution itself. Public funding

alone is not sufficient to function as institutional acknowledgment for survivors, but the degree

and type of institutional support, as well as who offers it, may have some effect. I conclude that

public art may offer an important tool for reversing the silence and neglect of survivors.

The apparent differences in how the various projects were realized and received formed

the basis of an interesting case study in the use of public art efforts addressing sensitive topics,

and help illuminate some of the missed opportunities, controversies, and best practices which

could be considered in undertaking future public art efforts of a similar nature. The nuances of

the projects make them interesting and educative: as no project was without criticisms, and all

projects had notable merits. There are many further questions that this paper could not answer

within its scope, but I hope that it contributes to the understanding of a neglected group and a

neglected topic.

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